Imatges de pàgina
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any earthly inconvenience that may now accompany the avowal of truth, would make shipwreck of a good conscience, and would see the cause of truth injured by his desertion. If those who have given their very lives for the truth, could not have excused themselves, had they saved even their lives at the expense of truth, how and where shall those stand, who, at the expense of truth, have purchased hut some paltry convenience, which truth might now require them to forfeit ? You fear the hiss of the serpent, do you? What if you had to brave the sting of the serpent? What if bigotry not only mocked you, but martyred you? What if the call to come to the standard of truth-what if that call had come to you when the Author and the Finisher of your faith arose proclaiming,He that taketh not up his cross to follow me, is not worthy of me'? What if that call had come to you when Hamilton and Wishart gave their bodies to be burned for truth? Or what if that call had come to you when your Servetus was bound to the stake of martyrdom, and endured the fiery furnace? Is it now, when all sit under their fig-tree, none daring to make them afraid; is it now, when intolerance has lost its sting, and cannot kill; is it now, when the heretic can hold up his head amongst his fellowcitizens can have his church among his fellow-citizens and can fearlessly lift up his testimony amongst his fellow-citizens is it now that there would be a pitiful skulking from the standard of truth-a pitiful mingling with the crowd-a pitiful looking on at the tardy progress of truth, without the will to co-operate and to help? Scorn the cowardice. Detest the iniquity, and stand forth and hold fast undismayed, and let not the blood of those who have been martyred for truth cry out against you.”—Pp. 14, 15.

The "Appendix," containing a statement and vindication of Unitarian Christian doctrine, is excellent, and with a very few and slight alterations would form a most suitable tract for distribution by our Book-Societies. The following explanation of a little peculiarity of opinion in the Unitarian Church at Dundee, will interest the reader.

"Any view of the death of Jesus that is consistent with the supremacy of the Father-with the truth, that God the Father is the author of our salvation,that it was his love that sent Jesus to be the Saviour of men ;-any view of the death of our Lord, consistent with this truth, we consider a Unitarian view of that great event, whether Christ be regarded as the direct, though instrumental procurer of our forgiveness and our immortality, or the indirect procurer of these blessings by means of his doctrine. This we say, the more especially for this reason, that several of the congregation to which we belong, maintain a view of the death of Jesus, which, while it avoids all that would imply that there was any change effected upon the Divine mind, by that event, or that there was any inconsistency between the Divine perfections prior to it, or that God the Father was not strictly and supremely the Author of our redemption; yet, at the same time, regards Jesus as the direct instrument of our forgiveness and our immortality."-Append. p. 21.

dress" to general perusal. No EnWe cordially recommend this " Adglish bookseller's name is inserted in the title-page; but we doubt not that it may be procured of any of the usual venders of Unitarian publications in London.

POETRY.

On reading some late intricate discussions in the Monthly Repository on the Doctrine of a Particular Providence.

VOL. XVIII.

O never, never from thee tear

The simple Faith whose fruit is Prayer!
Though far beyond the common creed
Thy practis'd eye hath learnt to read;
Though deep and high thy musings be
On heav'n and man's fix'd destiny;
Though earth and air and sea combin'd,
Have brought their treasures to thy mind;

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Though the fair tree of knowledge show'r
In rich redundance all her store,
And thou hast look'd and look'd again
At all the springs of joy and pain-
Not deeming heav'n itself too high,
To pass before thy searching eye ;—
Yet to thyself, to others spare

That simple Faith whose fruit is Prayer!

O pause-If 'mid those darker themes,
Where struggling reason scarcely seems
To hold her empire o'er the breast,
And, weary, longs to be at rest-
If there one spirit mourns her lot,
Her light obscur'd, her trust forgot,
O dearly-bought the joy, the pride
Of wisdom, thus to doubt allied:
And better, better far to spare

The simple Faith which causeth Pray'r—
That faith, which, noiseless, meek and mild,
The loftiest minds hath reconcil'd;
That faith which oft in times gone by,
Hath rais'd to heav'n the martyr's eye;
And now, in many an hour, will come,
When the heart mourns its martyrdom,
Feels thy cold hand, suspicion! rest
On many a kind and faithful breast,
Feels that the power which once allied
Its joys to theirs, must now divide.
Yet gathering sweetness out of pain,
Turns back to heav'n and hope again,

Looks through the passing cloud-and there
Breathes out the rising sigh in Prayer.—

That cheering faith whose glories steal,

O'er all we know, or see, or feel,
The grandeur and the beauty give,
To earth, and make it life to live
Whose brightest rays are ever shed,
Upon the dying and the dead:
That in the fellowship of love,
Joins saints below and saints above;
That quickens, elevates, makes wise,
Soothes, cheers, supports and sanctifies-
O never, never from thee tear,

This simple Faith, whose fruit is Prayer!

HYMN TO THE STARS.

Aye, there ye shine, and there have shone
In one eternal "hour of prime,"

Each rolling, burningly alone,

Through boundless space and countless time :

Aye, there ye shine-the golden dews
That pave the realms by seraphs trod

There through yon echoing vault diffuse

The song of choral worlds to God.

Ye visible spirits! bright as erst

Young Eden's birthnight saw ye shine
On all her flowers and fountains first,

Yet sparkling from the hand divine;
Yes, bright as then ye smil'd to catch
The music of a sphere so fair,
Ye hold yon high immortal watch
And gird your God's pavilion there.

Gold frets to dust-yet there ye are ;
Time rots the diamond-there ye roll,
In primal light, as if each star

Enshrin'd an everlasting soul !—
And do they not-since yon bright throngs
One All-enlightening Spirit own,
Prais'd there by pure sidereal tongues,
Eternal, glorious, blest and lone?

Could man but see what ye have seen,
Unfold awhile the shrouded past,
From all that is, to what has been,
The glance how rich, the range how vast!
The birth of time-the rise, the fall,
Of empires, myriads, ages flown,

Thrones, cities, tongues, arts, worships-all
The things whose echoes are not gone.

Ye saw rapt Zoroaster send

His soul into your mystic reign: Ye saw the adoring Sabian bendThe living hills his mighty fane! Beneath his blue and beaming sky

He worship'd at your lofty shrine, And deem'd he saw, with gifted eye, The Godhead in his works divine.

And there ye shine, as if to mock
The children of a mortal sire :

The storm, the bolt, the earthquake's shock,
The red volcano's cataract fire,

Drought, famine, plague, and flood and flame,
All Nature's ills, (and Life's worse woes,)

Are nought to you-ye smile the same,
And scorn alike their dawn and close.

Aye, there ye roll-emblems sublime
Of Him whose Spirit o'er us moves,
Beyond the clouds of grief and crime,
Still shining on the world he loves ;—
Nor is one scene to mortals given

That more divides the soul and sod,
Than yon proud heraldry of heaven-
Yon burning blazonry of God!

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OBITUARY.

SIR, Νου. 19, 1823. Believing the following Oration over the grave of my late excellent friend and correspondent, JOHN HANCOCK, of Lis burn, who died there Sept. 24th last, which was inserted in the "Irishman" of Oct. 3, a weekly paper published at Belfast, to be a just tribute to his memory, though delivered by a person of very different theological sentiments to those of the deceased, I send it for insertion in your valuable Journal. I subjoin a brief extract from a letter addressed by him to one of his sons, descriptive of the calm and consolatory state of his mind, in a reliance on the Divine goodness and mercy, when contemplating the near approach of his decease:

"I am not," says he to his son, "annoyed by persons who choose to envelop themselves in the thick mist of superstition, nor by those who please their fancies by the meteoric coruscations of ultra scepticism. I have settled my creed remote from both extremes, but according to Jeremy Taylor's apologue on toleration, as modernized by Dr. Franklin, that since the great Power of the universe bears with all varieties, why should not I bear with them for my short hour? It is a great comfort to me in the present season of sickness and debility, that I have carefully settled my creed in health. I am free from the gloom of superstition, and the equally gloomy notion of annihilation. I speculate not on the mode or manner of a future state, till death shall remove the veil, and I receive additional senses."

May you and I, with all that are most dear to us, when that inevitable, but wisely-ordained hour approaches which is destined to precede the entrance into the unseen world of life and immortality, be favoured with equal serenity and soundness of mind, however differently each may be situated as to the present reputed extremes of orthodoxy and scepticism, somewhere between which, I have no doubt, the happy medium of genuine and scriptural Christianity lies, in which "the wayfaring man, though a fool," we are assured, "shall not err," and which the honest, earnest and fearless inquirer, who values truth above all things, cannot fatally mistake, inasmuch as his errors, whatever they may be, will be decided on by an all-wise, merciful, benevolent and indulgent Judge and Father of all.

THOMAS FOSTER.

"This very valuable man was yesterday buried in the Quakers' burying-ground in Lisburn. His remains were followed to the tomb by a large concourse of people of all denominations. The most respectable inhabitants of Lisburn and its vicinity assembled to pay their last respect to a fellow-townsman, whose solid and substantial qualities they had long admired. The poor, with the sincerity which generally characterizes them, followed the remains of their friend and protector. They called to their recollection those sad and calamitous days when nobody almost was to be found at the bed-side of the dying victim to the typhus fever but the inestimable individual whose loss they had then to lament. Protestants, Presbyterians and Catholics, felt it a duty they owed to this inflexible advocate of public justice, to pay him the last When the sad honours of the grave. body had arrived at its destined abode, Dr. TENNENT, one of the most intimate and confidential friends of the deceased, addressed the surrounding multitude in the following pathetic terms-a true and honest tribute to the worth of the departed, and a record full of value to the survivor:

We are assembled here to perform the last solemn duty of affection and respect to our departed friend. Before committing his body for a season to its kindred dust, it may be profitable to take a short review of the tenor of his active and useful life, and observe some things which may be calculated to impress a desire on the living to go and do likewise. And here I must express regret that my acquaintance with John Hancock can only be considered recent, hardly yet extending to twenty years; but from the beginning, that acquaintance immediately ripened into friendship, which no accident ever disturbed, and which continued perfect and uninterrupted until the last moment of his life. Although belonging to a meritorious sect, and brought up in that strict discipline for which the members of it are distinguished, I understand that he early began to think for himself on that most important of all subjects— Religion: and when his views did not square with theirs, he conscientiously separated from their society. It may be observed on this part of his conduct, that if he did not believe some things which many good men consider essential, it may justly be ascribed to a fear lest so much reliance might be placed on believing as

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to weaken the attention to that purity
of conduct and universal benevolence for
which he himself was always so remark-
able: and I think this construction is fairly
borne out by the whole of his after-life.
Who like him so constant in visiting the
widows and fatherless in their affliction?
Who so attentive to the wants of the
sick and destitute, to relieve the poor,
and plead the cause of the oppressed?
And who so unwearied in following the
example of him who went about doing
good? If any such, I trust their hearts
will be found right before God, and that
any involuntary error of their heads will
lie lightly on them. John Hancock had
no formal creed, religious or political,
but the fervent aspiration of his heart
was, Glory to God in the highest, on
earth peace, and good-will towards men.'
This he thought could never be attained
without freedom-that freedom which
becomes men possessing reason, and de-
sirous of happiness; who should not only
be free to secure that happiness, but
encouraged and directed by freely-chosen
collective wisdom in the pursuit of it.
This made him the ardent and zealous
advocate of liberty, the uncompromising
enemy of corruption in the State or in
the Church, and of all tyranny or assumed
power in either, inconsistent with the
perfect exercise of individual exertion to
procure a man's own good, and that of
the society of which he is a member.
Our late friend was a Reformer indeed:
after securing civil and religious liberty
on sure foundations, he would have re-
form brought home to a man's own
bosom, and considered liberty, however
precious in itself, as little better than
licentiousness, unless founded upon vir-
tuous conduct; he considered the victory
not to be yet won nor the prize gained,
unless the heart, the temper and the
affections were reformed also. This is
what distinguished his principles; he
went to the root of the matter, both as
to the external system and the internal
qualifications, by which alone that system
can be advanced to perfection; he would
have man stand erect in freedom, that
he might successfully cultivate their dis--here, were centered the choice enjoy-
positions, which confer upon freedom all
its value. To this end all his efforts were
directed, his writings breathed the same
spirit, and his precepts were powerfully
recommended by his example. Indeed,
agreeable to his own doctrine, his life
was a practical comment on moral and
political science. He devoted himself to
practical utility, and all his extraordinary
powers were employed, with an energy
rarely witnessed, to do good and to com-
municate good to all within the sphere
of his activity, without regard to differ-

ences of opinion, or oppositions arising
from misapprehension, well knowing that
with such sacrifices as these God is well
pleased. He was a man fitted to bear a
part in a better state of society than the
present; but such a man as Providence
sometimes vouchsafes to mankind to
cheer them under the gloomy aspect of
human affairs, and to excite others to a
persevering philanthropy, independently
of every worldly hope or expectation. In
no country could such an example be
more useful than in Ireland, and in none
could the loss of such a one be felt more
severely. Here, where integrity is assailed
with so many temptations, and where
systematic delusions are practised to ac-
complish the overthrow of public virtue,
we would need to fix our eyes steadily
on one who has stood firm all his days,
and who, having finished his course with
honour, may now safely be contemplated
as an object for imitation by all who love
their country and mankind. He was a
man whom all may imitate; plain, direct,
right-forward in all his pursuits; he had
but one object in view-the advancement
of human happiness, and from this no
consideration of difficulty, or danger, or
obloquy, of personal labour or personal
sacrifice, could ever induce him to swerve.
Every one may not possess his talents,
but every one may possess his integrity;
and every one may propose to himself the
same laudable end in all his actions, and
follow it during life with the same con-
stancy, and at its close rest from his
labours with the same humble conscious-
ness of having endeavoured, to the best
of his power, to do that which it was his
duty to do. It is at this awful period
that the value of a man's life can be truly
appreciated; no delusive plea can be ad-
vanced now; no flattery can now cover
delinquency or assuage the sorrows of
regret; but, the righteous shall enter
into peace; they shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness.'
We do not mean to follow our late la-
mented friend into the privacies of domes-
tic life, to scenes of family happiness often
witnessed. Here, indeed, he was himself

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ments of his life-here, he reaped the reward of his anxiety and toils for a more extended circle-and here, he found refreshment in the intervals of public exertion, and consolation for those disappointments to which the philanthropist is peculiarly liable. But I must pause, and not attempt, too rudely, perhaps, to penetrate the recesses of domestic life, or withdraw the veil from the sacredness and delicacy of filial regret and love. However, I may emphatically remark, that here the tree is known by its fruit;

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